


Safety Reset

by 27dragons



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, Guilt, Insomnia, M/M, post-battle angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:55:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29451915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/27dragons/pseuds/27dragons
Summary: Bucky and Tony have both been fighting their brains a little too long. It’s time for a reset.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Comments: 20
Kudos: 231
Collections: Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV





	Safety Reset

**Author's Note:**

> This fic fills a square for the Tony Stark Bingo. See end note for full info.

Bucky woke at the first quiet ping of the alarm, and he knew even before he opened his eyes that the other side of the bed was cold and empty. When he looked, the pillow wasn’t even dented, and though the blankets were somewhat rumpled from his own sleep, they weren’t the wild tangle that Tony usually left in his wake.

The encounter yesterday had been a damned nightmare, one hostage killed and another hurt badly enough they were still waiting to hear if she’d pull through. The building had collapsed on top of Steve and broken his leg, Sam’s wings had been damaged too much to fly, and Tony had been hit with some kind of psychoactive gas that the bad guys had developed.

It had taken every bit of the Winter Soldier's discipline and will to hold his post when that had happened, and when they’d finally wrapped it all up and gotten home, Bucky had wanted nothing more than to hold Tony close and reassure himself that his lover was safe. But Tony’d had a bad case of post-action jitters and sent Buck to bed alone, promising to join him as soon as he’d worked off the adrenaline.

Bucky sighed and sat up, shoving his hand through his hair and wincing as it tugged at the knots and tangles. “Where is he?” _Not the roof,_ he prayed to the uncaring gods. _Anywhere but that._

“Th’ boss is in the workshop,” Friday told him, and Bucky let out the breath he’d been half-holding.

The roof was where Tony went when he started thinking about his own mortality, and Bucky could _not_ handle that. One of the others had to handle those episodes. But the workshop, Bucky could handle. “Start the coffee for me, would you?”

“You got it,” she agreed cheerfully, and Bucky got up and grabbed a pair of sweatpants.

* * *

“Couldn’t help but notice, you never made it to bed, doll.”

Bucky was leaning in the doorway, holding two travel mugs and a plate with three breakfast burritos on it, still steaming gently.

“Shit, is it morning?” Tony twisted the other way to look at the clock. “Damn. I’m sorry, snowflake, I just--”

“Yeah, I know,” Bucky said. He came in and set the plate on the workbench and one of the mugs at Tony’s elbow. He took a sip from the other. “Could’a woke me up. You know I wouldn’t mind.”

Something cold and oily slithered through Tony’s guts. “No. I-- Friday told me you were okay. If I gave in and went up there, I...” It sounded so stupid. Illogical, when his logic was a thing he prided himself on.

The idea that Bucky would _stop_ being okay if Tony went up to check on him was just dumb. And yet, Tony hadn’t been able to shake it.

“Hey, baby.” Bucky’s arms curled around him. Tony shuddered but let himself lean into the warmth of Bucky’s bulk. “Hey, it’s okay. I get it. My brain plays plenty of damn tricks on me, too, after a clusterfuck like yesterday.”

“I’m okay,” Tony denied. “I didn’t get hurt, the junk is out of my system, I’m fine.” He shivered again, thinking of the nightmare scenarios that the gas had shown him. They’d seemed so _real_.

Bucky held him a little tighter. “Just ‘cause you weren’t hurt, doll, don’t mean it didn’t hurt you.” He nuzzled at Tony’s temple. “C’mon, if you can’t come upstairs, at least come snuggle on the couch with me for a bit.”

“You’re trying to trick me into napping,” Tony accused, but he followed Bucky to the couch.

“Guilty as charged.” Bucky sounded entirely too happy about it. “Sleep don’t cure everything, but it sometimes helps if your brain needs to reset.”

Tony let Bucky tug him down, arranging them so he was half lying on top of Bucky, tucked between his lover’s body and the back of the couch, in the most protected position. And a sign that Tony’s brain wasn’t the only one needing a reset; Bucky didn’t generally like to have his back to the room.

Tony wondered what he’d looked like from the outside, while the gas had him under its influence. Bucky must have been halfway to terrified, to still be needing to protect him.

“Burritos are gonna get cold,” he felt obliged to point out, though his eyelids were drooping already, lulled by the gentle music of Bucky’s heartbeat and breath under his ear, slow and steady and _safe_.

“Damn. If only we lived in the future, where there was some kind of device for quickly heating food.” Bucky’s tone was dry as a desert, but his fingers were carefully combing through Tony’s hair, soothing.

Tony thought about calling Bucky out on the sass, but he was comfortable and warm and, for a change, his brain wasn’t still reeling in the aftereffects of the drug, screaming false alarms at him, so he closed his eyes and let sleep carry him away.

**Author's Note:**

> Title: Safety Reset  
> by @27dragons  
> Card 4027  
> Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29451915  
> Square: K3 - Psychological Torture  
> Ship: Winteriron  
> Rating: T  
> Tags/Warnings: Established Relationship, post-battle angst, Insomnia, Guilt, Snuggles  
> Summary: Bucky and Tony have both been fighting their brains a little too long. It’s time for a reset.  
> Wordcount: 834


End file.
